"If this were only a Gym battle, you would have already passed. Although Vibrava is at an attribute disadvantage, thanks to its control over air currents, it is not affected by the water field."
"In addition, through its ultrasonic detection ability, it can also locate Swampert's position underwater very well, in order to dodge and launch attacks. And, aside from that, Vibrava's own training has also reached a practically perfect level."
"All of those points are the basis by which I judge whether a challenger qualifies or not. As long as they can achieve even one of them, they are considered to have passed; in your case, your evaluation can be considered perfect."
Rachel looked at Ethan with enormous admiration. In reality, continuing the battle no longer had much meaning: Ethan's Gym evaluation was almost perfect.
"I see. Then, next, I'll let myself conduct a Gym battle test."
Ethan nodded thoughtfully. Then he recalled Vibrava and sent out Litwick.
The Gym he had applied for was a Sunny Day Gym, so naturally the Gym Pokémon had to focus on the members of a sunny-weather team.
The current Litwick, during the research into Gigalith's shortcut, had already mastered the move Sunny Day.
It was just that the power of the move Sunny Day was very far from Charizard's and, in addition, due to Litwick's peculiar battle style, it had never used that move until now.
Facing Ethan's Litwick, Rachel sent out Starmie, a Water- and Psychic-type Pokémon.
This time, since the objective was to master the evaluation techniques of a Gym Leader, the battle between the two Pokémon was not too intense.
Through that battle, Ethan continuously perfected the evaluation criteria of his own Gym.
Among them, the most important point was naturally adaptation to the battle rhythm under intense sunlight.
In the real world, the power of sunny weather was much greater than in the video games.
Under intense sunlight, in addition to increasing the power of Fire-type moves, the high temperature was also something that both challengers and Trainers had to face.
If the challenger had Fire-type or Grass-type Pokémon, they could still handle it; but if they specialized in Water-type Pokémon, then they had to think very carefully about how to face the extreme heat.
In addition, although Water-type Pokémon could counter Fire-type Pokémon well, under sunny weather, Water-type moves would also be weakened; that was another of the key points of the evaluation.
If, upon seeing Ethan send out a Fire-type Pokémon, the challenger responded directly with a Water-type Pokémon, and furthermore had no measure to counter sunny weather, then the Gym challenge could immediately be considered failed.
And if the challenger knew the effects of sunny weather well and sent out Fire-type or Grass-type Pokémon, then it would be necessary to see to what degree they knew how to make use of that weather.
If they were not capable of properly making use of sunny weather to battle, then they would likewise be considered to have failed the evaluation.
Of course, if the challenger sent out Pokémon of other types, then besides evaluating their ability to resist the heat and the other effects of the move Sunny Day, they would also have to be capable of dealing with the Gym Leader's Pokémon strengthened by that weather.
It could be said that this was the most difficult evaluation mode of all.
The Gym Leader's Pokémon, adjusting their own strength to the same level as the challenger's Pokémon, would battle while taking advantage of sunny weather.
Taking Fire-type Pokémon as an example: under the move Sunny Day, the power of their Fire-type moves increased enormously, so the strength they displayed could suppress the challenger's Pokémon to a great extent.
Faced with that situation, if the challenger's Pokémon did not have some hidden card, it would be almost impossible to obtain victory.
Because of that, at the beginning of the battle, the choice of Pokémon that the challenger made in the face of sunny weather would determine, to a great extent, the difficulty of the challenge.
If they chose Water-type Pokémon to challenge it, it would be nightmare difficulty; if they chose Fire-type or Grass-type Pokémon, the difficulty would be the lowest.
After defining the Gym's evaluation criteria, Ethan continued asking Rachel for advice, ceaselessly perfecting the details of the evaluation system.
...
On the second day after perfecting those criteria, Ethan returned to the stands to observe the battle on the field.
"Eh, what a strange name that person has."
When the name of the challenger who would go on stage was announced, someone in the stands commented.
"Sanada Ichiro... that name seems to be from the Red Sun League, doesn't it?"
Ethan stroked his chin and fell into thought. Could he be of mixed blood?
"Are you the strongest Water-type Trainer in this city?"
After going on stage, Sanada Ichiro spoke in awkward Chinese.
"Indeed, I am a Water-type Trainer, but I would not dare to carry the title of the strongest."
Rachel frowned slightly; she felt that this challenger was not simple at all.
"A Water-type Gym Leader. Either way, you are an opponent worthy of being defeated."
"I came this time to the Daleron League with the objective of defeating all of its Water-type Trainers!"
"And I will start with you, as a Water-type Gym Leader!"
Sanada Ichiro said it with great seriousness, but his words provoked total commotion among the audience.
That challenger really was a Trainer from the Red Sun League, and furthermore, he intended to defeat all the Water-type Trainers of the Daleron League!
"You are... a Trainer in training for the World Championship?"
Suddenly, Rachel thought of something and asked in a serious tone.
Rachel's words once again shook the audience.
"A Trainer in training for the World Championship!"
Everyone began discussing it, and naturally the conversation turned completely toward the World Championship.
Not long ago, the details of the selection of spots for the World Championship in the Daleron League had also been announced.
The first thing that had begun, of course, was the qualification process to compete for a World Championship spot. Only the Trainers who obtained that right could participate in the final contest for a spot.
And the selection date for the World Championship spots had been set for June of next year; in other words, the selection would be carried out one year in advance.
Therefore, all Trainers who wanted to compete for a World Championship spot had to obtain, before June of next year, the right to enter that contest.
"The qualification to compete for a World Championship spot... When I obtained the junior championship of the World Championship, at the same time I also obtained the right to compete for a World Championship spot."
"It can be said that I directly passed the preliminary selection to compete for a World Championship spot!"
At that moment, some information related to the contest for World Championship spots also appeared in Ethan's mind.
Of course, what he had obtained for now was only the right to compete for a spot; whether he could truly manage to obtain that spot or not would still depend on the final selection phase.
In addition, it was worth mentioning that, after obtaining the right to compete for a World Championship spot, he could enjoy many benefits offered by the League.
Among them, the most important was the right to travel to the different Leagues of the world to train and temper himself, just like that Sanada Ichiro had come to the Daleron League to do.
One had to know that, under normal circumstances, each League controlled the flow of people very strictly, and generally it was very difficult to enter and leave freely from one to another.
But once he obtained that right to train overseas, he could travel freely between the different Leagues without having to go through a long series of complicated applications.
(End of chapter)